Bhopal: Swastika, not the Red Cross. That’s the emblem that the Aarogya Bharati, the RSS wing of medical practitioners, is asking its members to use instead of the international symbol. Some members of the organisation, registered in Bhopal, have already started pasting Swastika stickers on their vehicles and in their clinics without inviting much attention.
But this Sunday, the symbol will be promoted in a big way in Nagpur where the organisation – it’s an umbrella of National Medical Organisation (for allopaths), Vishwa Ayurved Parishad and Ayurved Vyas Peeth (for Ayurveda practitioners) and Homeo Samaj (for Homeopathy practitioners) – will distribute stickers to all members.
"We are not against the Red Cross but Swastika is a symbol of Indian culture," Aarogya Bharati’s national secretary M S Deshpande told The Indian Express today. An Ayurved practitioner, he has pasted the Swastika in his clinic in Arera Colony and on vehicles on Dhanteras which, the organisation says, is a corruption of Dhanwantari Trayodashi.
The organisation, registered in 2004, wants Rishi Dhanwantari’s anniversary to be celebrated in India as National Health Day – not April 7, the World Health Day, which marks the constitution of the World Health Organisation.
"We have taken care to set the Swastika apart from the one associated with Hitler’s Nazi Party by retaining the four dots used in the ancient Indian symbol. Some people were apprehensive about its use," Deshpande said.
Nagpur-based Dr Anand Gopal Dehadrai, Vidarbha convenor of the National Medical Organisation, said doctors would be asked this Sunday to use the new symbol.
"To begin with, we will ask members to paste the Swastika sticker next to the Red Cross symbol because it’s not good to immediately replace the old symbol. The Red Cross can be phased out gradually," said Dr Dehadrai.
The idea was first floated in Nagpur which hosted the Akhil Bharatiya Vaidyak Parishad Niramaya in September, 2006. Use of the Swastika was one of the seven points finalised at the meet — there was also agreement on adoption of rural settlements, introduction of health schemes focusing on mothers and children, harnessing the capabilities of medical students.
According to Deshpande, more than 2,000 stickers have already been sent to Nagpur and another 500 to Vidisha. Coordinators in other states have been sent the design so that they can print and use the stickers on their own.
"We had been planning the campaign for quite some time because the Red Cross organisation has objected to the rampant use of its symbol and has even approached a court of law," Deshpande said.
But not everyone is convinced about the RSS’s newfound love for Swastika. "I don’t know what’s wrong with the Red Cross. Swastika is a religious symbol unlike Red Cross which is associated with the medical profession. Why should doctors lose their identity?" asked Dr P C Manoria, an office-bearer of the Indian Medical Association.
